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Culture: Dancing in the daylight

Six years after Janet Smith joined as the new artistic director, Scottish Dance Theatre has recovered its spirit of adventure. And next spring the company is getting a brand new studio to cap its success, writes Kelly Apter

No natural light, no fresh air, no temperature control. Buried away in the bowels of Dundee Rep Theatre, the Scottish Dance Theatre studio offers little inspiration. That anything vaguely creative has taken place there is a minor miracle. But it has, in spades. When artistic director, Janet Smith arrived at the contemporary dance company in 1997, the first job on her list was to move studios. Six years later, the builders have finally arrived.

Work on a new £1m state-of-the-art space, designed by Nicoll Russell Studios, began last week with a completion date of next spring. Partly financed by the Eastern Scotland European Partnership and local trusts, the bulk of the cash has come from the Scottish Arts Council National Lottery Fund.

It’s an upheaval but as the dancers at Scottish Ballet might agree — the company hope to move from Glasgow’s Theatre Royal to the Tramway — upheaval can pay dividends.